My memorable tournaments

Behind every single tournament, there are different histories, experiences and impressions. Me, as a chess player, tournaments are my journey and adventure. it's like a small world but important part of my life.

Monday, November 5, 2018

After a long debate about whether to participate in the California's Women's State Championship or not, my desire to defend my title from the previous year was inevitable. Due to the overwhelming schoolwork, I wasn't playing active chess in 2016 and 2017. However, having participated in the US Amateur team west championship tournament a month prior to this event helped me to take some rust off and gain more confidence. Luckily, I was able to score 5.5/6 to win the tournament and defend my title. Read more about my 2016 women's championship experience: https://uyangabyambaa.blogspot.com/2016/

Become the Back to back California's Women's State Chess Champion! March, 2017

Thank you Elizabeth Shaughnessy for organizing this wonderful event and giving out a generous prize fund!

US Amateur Team Championship West (USATW) is one of my favorite tournaments of all times! It is very unique in a way that the winners are determined by the score of the entire team. Team tournaments are simply so much fun! Every USAT was so memorable for me. With three times I participated with different teams, we won the top female prize, top college prize and a big victory of winning the whole tournament and obtained the National Title.

2013 USATW, played for board 3 - Our team won the entire tournament after defeating Princeton University in the playoff!

2014 USATW, played for board 1 - I formed all girls team with my female students and we won the top female team prize!

2017 USATW, played for board 2 - I formed a college team from UC Berkeley and we won the top college team prize!

2017 US Amateur Team Championship West

Despite the intense coursework at Cal, I decided to form a team at the US Amateur Team Championship West in Santa Clara, CAto represent the school.

Sunday, November 4, 2018

Fall 2015 was incredible. I was playing the best chess of my life at that time, partly because I was off from school. It was a free semester for me since I was going to start Berkeley in spring 2016. An academic free environment gave me an opportunity to focus solely on my chess. I was winning all tournaments I entered and my rating reached its peak. I was very motivated to break 2300 USCF.

American Open during Thanksgiving weekend, LA

In addition, this was my last season to play in US Chess League team (USCL ), representing San Francisco Mechanics Chess Club. Read about my previous post about USCL: https://uyangabyambaa.blogspot.com/2012/04/san-francisco-mechanics-uscl-united.html

It was a successful last season. I was very happy with my overall performance and contribution to the team.

John Donaldson wrote in Mechanics Newsletter:

"The Mechanics’ 2015 US Chess Leaguerun was ended last Tuesday night in the quarter-finals when they were defeated by Western Division top seed Dallas by a score of 2½-1½. Uyanga Byambaa
won for the M.I. on board four, defeating her opponent in 22 moves.
This was Uyanga’s second playoff win and she finished the season with a
3½-1½ score, good for a 2343 performance rating.

Uyanga was also the winner of the 44th Annual Carroll Capps Memorial. She defeated International Master Vladimir Mezentsev and drew with National Master Siddarth Banik, finishing with a score of 5½-½. Mezentsevwas second at 5-1 with Banik third at 4½.

This
performance brought Uyanga’s rating to a personal best of 2275, which
makes her the top-rated female in the Bay Area, ahead of Woman
Grandmaster Nadiya Ortiz (2243), National Master Asritha Eswaran (2239) and Natalya Tsodikova (2164)."

At the same weekend, I entered two day tournament at Mechanics, 44th Carroll Capps Memorial. After defeating International Master Mezentsev, I secured a first place.

The publication of CalChess, Northern California’s US Chess Federation affiliate

Winter 2016:

The 44th Carroll Capps Memorial Tournament

October 7th & 8th, 2015
Prize Winners:
1st Place: Byambaa – $250.00
2nd Place: Mezentsev – $160.00
Tied for Best under 2200, Best Under 2000, and Best Under 1800: K. Padmanabhan, Melville, Viswanathan, and Acharya – $59.25 each
Tied for Best under 1600 and Best under 1400: Jiang, Lingannagari, and N. Ayinala – $51.00 each

Friday, July 22, 2016

Since I started attending at University of California, Berkeley this January, I haven't been playing much chess. Cal definitely keeps me busy. After several months of break from chess, I've been attempting to come back and play little bit before fall semester starts. Recently, I just played in Berkeley Weekender, a small local tournament that Berkeley chess school is starting to organize every other month. The tournament was held in a beautiful, spacious building in Berkeley hill and directed by Senior TD Bryon Joseph Doyle, who did a great job running the tournament. Although it wasn't a super big prize tournament, it attracted more than 50 players including 10 titled players in the open section /FIDE Rated/. Before I talk about the Berkeley weekender, I'd like to highlight one of my most memorable tournaments, organized also by Berkeley Chess School, 1st California's Women's State Championship, April 2-3rd. I accepted Elizabeth Shaughnessy's personal invite to the tournament way back in December, so I was already committed to participate in the tournament. Plus, I always love to promote girls and women to play chess and support their events. On the other hand, newly transferred to UC Berkeley in spring, my semester was intense. I was pretty much studying all the time and my mind wasn't fully focused on chess. Between my rounds at women's state championship, I was studying for my Econ 100A, upper division microeconomic analysis, midterm. In spite of the stress and pressure, I was lucky that everything worked out in my favor. Here is a key last round game, where I defeated National Master Natalia Tsodikova to win the tournament.

I'd like to thank Elizabeth Shaughnessy, founder of Berkeley Chess School, for organizing such a great event that creates opportunity for women to play chess. Along with winning $700 for first place, I'm privileged to attain the state title.

At the Berkeley Weekender in round 2, I had very tough game against a teenager who is already rated over 2400 USCF.

e4! Unleashing the beast! All of a sudden, the dragon bishop breathing fire along the long diagonal. In addition to open b-file, the active queen and the control over the dark squares, black's initiative becomes very hard to deal with. 23. fxe4 {there is no pleasant way to accept the

Thursday, July 10, 2014

The night before the tournament begin, Bryon and I decided to play in the Sacramento /state capital/ Chess Championship. The July 4th fireworks didn't end until we both scored 5/6 to tying for first in the top section. In the 6 games I played over the July 4th weekend, there were lots of sparkles, explosions and exciting results like fireworks.

Tied for first at the Sacramento chess championship and
finally, made a master rating of 2206!

﻿﻿In my first round, I played the Austrian attack against the Pirc defense. Without too much difficulty, I reached a dominating position, where it guaranteed me a full point.Uyanga Byambaa (2171) vs Ziad A. Beroudi (1914)

Position after 25.Bxf5

game continues 25...Qb5 26. Nc7 Qa5 27. Be6+ Kg7 28. Nxa5 1-0. Here, he lost on time as well as on the board. Interestingly, my opponent withdrew from the open section after round 2 and reentered in the Reserve section, where he finished tied for first.

Round 2 was one of my critical wins in the tournament. In the opening, somehow I misplayed my Kings Indian defense (KID), but he made a couple of inaccuracies, which allowed me to equalize. After finding some defensive moves, we reached this position.

In round 3, I lost a difficult game against NM Robert Hatarik, who was leading the tournament with 3.5 after 4 rounds. I didn't feel too bad losing to him this time because the first time we played at the US amateur team west 2014, I defeated him in 17 moves with a fried liver attack.

Then I bounced back from my loss in round 3 by scoring an exciting victory with another KID.

[29.Nxg4 Bxg4 30.Kf2 Bxe2 31.Kxe2
Rxg2+ 32.Kd1=] 29...f3!! only move to win! 30.gxf3 [30.Nxg4 Bxg4
31.Bd3 fxg2-+; 30.Bxf3 Nxf3+ 31.gxf3 Ne3+ 32.Kh1 Nxc4-+; 30.Bd1 fxg2 31.Re1 Nxf2
32.Kxf2 Rf7+ 33.Kg1 Bh3-+] 30...Nxf3+ 31.Bxf3 [31.Kh1?? Nxf2+ 32.Rxf2
Rg1#; 31.Kg2 Ngh2+ 32.Kh1 Nxf1 33.Bxf3 Ba6-+] 31...Ne3+ 32.Ng4 Nxc4 white
resigned since there are three pieces hanging at the same time and position is
very difficult to save. 0-1
In the last day of the tournament, I was lucky to win both of my games. In round 5, I faced off against a strong expert Philip Stienez (2174) with black. Earlier in the game, I missed a good winning chance. Shortly after, I grabbed a pawn in a risky position where I found myself in trouble. Unfortunately, my opponent blundered in the time pressure on move 30, as a result; I was able to win the game.

In the last round, due to my opponent's choice of a dubious opening line, I obtained a big advantage and I was able to convert to a win.